Shadow Games
by I Like My Sitar
Summary: AAMayL. Ash and May travel to Orre on league buisness, and meet up with some friendly and unfriendly faces, and have to stop Team Cipher from taking over Orre! Colleseumshippy and rocketshippy, but not very much.
1. Shadows Reborn

**Disclaimer**

I do not own pokemon, yada yada yada. Let's get on with it. I hate disclaimers.

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**Shadow Games**

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Chapter One - Shadows Reborn

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(If Ein's age is ever defined, please notify me!) 

That was eleven years ago. Ein was 14 then, and accused of murder - the murder of a twelve year old girl by the name of Venus.

Ein stood at the large conveyor belt, thinking about his past. He knew that Venus had never actually died. Nor had he laid a finger on her. The policemen just thought that she had been killed because there was "blood" on the walls of her room and she was not there. Ein; however, knew that she did not die, but came up with a fantastic scheme for running away from her abusive home. He knew this because he had been her closest friend.

He was accused of killing her for obvious reasons - he had the "bloody" knife in his hand when Venus's parents came to get her. She was, of course, still there, pretending to be dead so no one would wonder when she all of a sudden "disappeared." The "blood" was really red tainted liquid, but science in Pyrite ten years ago could not differentiate (meaning the science was really really bad :P). Ein was reported to the police immediatley, and they chased him and planned to kill him.

Of course, they didn't, because Ein was still here today.

He knew that Venus got away safely after her so-called "death", as well. She was working with him to create shadow pokemon and take over the world.

Ein shook off his thoughts of his former self. All that mattered now was doing the procedure he had invented correctly.

He placed a poke-ball on the conveyor belt in front of him, and turned on the belt. The pokeball was taken into a large machine. A female voice spoke from the machine:

"Pokemon: Raikou. OT: Ein. Status: Heart open. Would you like to close the door to this pokemon's heart?"

Ein grinned.

"Yes. That is exactly what I would like to do." He said.

"Certainly. Undergoing procedure." The computer said.

Ein heard a noise that sounded like a cry, and it abruptly stopped. The machine opened. Where a normal pokeball used to be, a black and red pokeball sat. Raikou had sucessfully been transformed into a shadow pokemon. For the second time.

"Young Wes will not interfere this time," Ein said to himself. "Heh heh heh. He thinks Cipher was stopped. Not so."

"Ein? Ein?" A female voice was speaking behind him.

"Ah, Venus. Late, but you have arrived," Ein said, smiling.

Venus giggled. "Yes, I know I'm late. I'm sorry..."

"Heh heh. That's OK. Evice will be pleased. I've already converted all of the snagged pokemon back to shadow ones. I trust you recived Suicune safely?"

"Yes, yes, I did. We'll make them pay. They did us both unforgivable wrongs." Venus said. There was a flicker of hatred in her eye as she said this.

"Of course. Now, come with me to the LAUA Transport. We best be off to Pyrite... this time to do what we should have done with the shadow pokemon long ago." Ein said. He had an equal level of hatred in his eyes.

((LAUA stands for Land Air Underground Aqua))

Venus and Ein ran towards the exit to the lab. They each had a secret weapon more powerful than almost any pokemon in existance. And they both knew it.


	2. Reunions

**Disclaimer**

I do not own pokemon.

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**Shadow Games**

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Chapter Two - Reunions

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OOC: I know my chapters are short. I'm going to start writing longer chapters. And I finally got a review! Yay me. 

-Meanwhile in Pyrite City-

Wes walked the streets of Pyrite Town. Since he betrayed Team Snagem, he didn't have any place to stay. Eagun had offered him to stay in his house with him and Rui, but he refused the offer. He needed time alone now.

As he approached the Pyrite Hotel, he heard voices from inside the door:

"Silver, shouldn't we wait until Cipher's activities come into the open? I mean, attacking them without them rising up again seems... I don't know, stupid? After Wes humiliated Evice and Nascour in front of everyone, you would think they would back down," A voice said that sounded like a young man. Wes smiled when his name was mentioned.

"No, we shouldn't," A more feminine voice said adamantly. "They could rise up any miniute and..." Silver stopped as the other voice started to talk.

"And what? You want to go get hurt because of something that isn't even sure to happen?"

"I can protect myself, Lark," Silver defended herself. "I have my pokemon."

"I know, but what if it isn't enough? They have shadow pokemon, and they'll not hesitate to attack you? I don't want you dead, Silver."

Wes heard the words 'Shadow Pokemon,' and opened the door. He saw a tall boy with dark hair, presumably Lark. The boy was wearing green cargo pants, and a green and grey shirt with a blue jacket. He had a rectangular pair of glasses on his face, covering his large eyes. His hair was spiky and long,down to his shoulders, though not in a girlish way.The girl, Silver, was not as tall as the boy. She had light blonde hair and green eyes. She wore a denim jacket and jeans. They both looked around the age of 15.

"Shadow Pokemon? You two know about Shadow Pokemon?" Wes inquired in a harsh tone.

"Wes?" Silver said. "I thought we might meet up with you sometime. And yes, we know about Shadow Pokemon. I believe your friend Rui can see a dark aura around them? I can see the same thing."

"We thought that Team Cipher and Shadow Pokemon were over with," Lark explained. "But just yesterday, Silver saw a trainer use a shadow lunatone. She can see them, but we can't snag them."

"I see," Wes said, becoming interested. "Well, it's too late at night to do anything about it now.I suggest you spend the night here so we can discuss the matter in the morning."

Wes walked off to his room that he had checked in to earlier.Once there, he took off his snagmachine and laid it on a table.

"ShadowPokemon, huh..." Wes began to think as he laid in his bed looking at the ceiling. Before long, he had fallen asleep, thinking about what adventures tomorrow would bring...

* * *

"Silver," Lark motioned to Silver. "Come on." Lark walked up a staircase, with Silver following behind. "Our room is upstairs." 

As they walked up the stairs, they bumped into another pair of people...

"Ouch!" The girl who Lark had bumped in to was wearing a red outfit with a pokeball on it. She had dropped a poke-ball on the floor when she was hit, and a delicatty emerged.

"Oh my God!" Lark said in suprise. "I'm sorry... what's your name?"

"May," The girl said, picking up her poke-ball and withdrawing Delicatty. "Sorry about that. I was in the way. This is Ash, by the way." May pointed to a tall boy wearing blue and white. He had a red and white hat on. A pikachu walked beside him.

"Ash Ketchum?" Silver asked. "Isn't he the Johto Leage Champion?"

"That's me!" Ash responded to Silver. "May and I are travelling here on account of reports of mysterious pokemon..."

"So you know about them to?" Lark said. "Oh, we forgot to introduce ourselves! I'm Lark, and this is Silver!"

"Nice to meet you," Ash said. "But what do you know about the mysterious pokemon?"

"They're called Shadow Pokemon," Silver said. "They were pokemon modified to be battle machines. You should ask Wes. He's the expert."

"Where is Wes, then? I was actually sent here to meet him." Ash said.

"He's asleep. We'll talk tomorrow..." Lark said, yawning. "I'm really tired. I have to go to sleep."

Lark and Silver walked upstairs to their room to go to sleep for the night.

"We should go, too, Ash," May said.

"Right," Ash said. "Let's go get something to eat first."

Ash and May walked down the staircase, and went to the food court part of the hotel for a bite to eat.

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OOC Section! 

Unexpected characters? Mwahahaha! I will make everybody appear, except Misty. And Max.

Anyways, Silver and Lark are OCs, not characters from the show or games, even if there are characters with those names or like them in the show or games.

I will not update again until I have at least 5 reviews >.>


	3. The Battle Pt1

**Disclaimer**

I do not own pokemon.

Oh, and I should probobly put all the ages here (I am only listing relevant characters... ):

Ash - 20

May - 18

Silver - 15

Lark - 15

Ein - 24

Venus - 23

Wes- 19

Rui - 18

Jesse - 32

James - 34

And... thats about it. The bad guys ages dont really matter, do they?

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**Shadow Games**

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Chapter Three - The Battle, Pt.1

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Ash and May were sitting across from each other on a small table in the hotel bar. Ash was eating a hamburger, and May was re-reading the files about the strange pokemon that she and Ash had been sent. 

"Hmm, that's strange," May said. "Look here, Ash! The reports say that the strange pokemon - shadow pokemon namely, have had their hearts artificially closed-"

May was cut off by Ash. "I know. I've read the files a few times. Right now, let's not worry about it. We're going to be here in Orre for quite a while, I think. Tonight lets just relax."

"All right," May said.

All of a sudden, May heard footsteps. She thought the bar would be deserted except for her and Ash, after all it was three in the morning and no one else was around. The footsteps got faster,and Ash turned his head up from his burger also.

"Who's that..." He started to speak, and three people appeared in the entrance of the bar. Silver and Lark were there, and so was one other, a boy apparently in his late teens with sandy hair and golden eyes.

"Ash, May! Come, quickly. We don't have much time," Lark said. "A Team Cipher vehicle was spotted outside the hotel."

"Team Cipher?" Ash asked.

"They were in the file," May said. "They're the bad guys!"

"Yes," The sandy-haired boy said.

"Ah. You must be Wes," Ash offered his hand. Wes declined the offer.

"Ash. I've heard about you," Wes said. "Now, hurry.They'll attack the town with their shadow pokemon if we don't hurry. This time I don't think that they'll be as sneaky and underhand as before - this time they'll go for an all-out attack."

"Right," Ash said. "Lets go."

The group of five started towards the door to the hotel, when all of a sudden there was an explosion behind them!

Ash and May, the farthest behind of the group, were knocked back by the explosion.

"Oh, are you hurt, cuties?" A feminine voice said in a bittersweet tone.

"Not that we care," a more masculine voice stated. "Ah, Wes. It seem's you're still in top condition."

"Ein, and Venus. What an unexpected and unwanted surprise," Wes drawled, watching the two figures emerge from the smoke. The man was tall, and wore a white lab coat. He had a large hair coming out in front of him. Ein looked no different from when Wes had first met him three years ago. The woman, however, was dressed completely different. Instead of wearing the elaborate jewled dress, she wore a black leather jacket and black jeans. She had a white cape on her back and a white belt.

"Well, I guess our old friend Wes remembers us," Venus said. "Now, we don't want to deal with you people. We're here to take over the town. And there's nothing you can do to stop it.

"Want to bet?" Ash was recovering from the explosion and was helping May up. "You're not going anywhere until you go through us."

"Really?" Ein said, interested.

"Yeah, really." Wes said.

"Then, I don't think you five would mind a battle. Venus and I will battle all of you at once." Ein said.

"You're crazy," Silver said.

"Silver's right. You don't stand a chance," Lark said.

"Actually, you have that quite backwards!" Venus said. "We have two of the most powerful pokemon in the world."

"Then you wouldn't mind showing us!" Ash demanded.

"No, we wouldn't. Go, Raikou!" Ein said. He held up a black pokeball and let out the large yellow tiger.

"Suicune, you too!" Venus exclaimed. Her blue and white dog came out of its pokeball and faced the five trainers.

"No..." Silver said, looking at the two pokemon that had just emerged. "Those... are shadow pokemon!"

"Heh. You think you can beat me with those? I defeated them once, I can do it again! Go, Espeon!" Wes declared. His pink fox-like psychic pokemon emerged from its pokeball.

"Glalie, I choose you!" Ash said, his black and white rock-like ice pokemon emerged from its home. May sent out Blaziken immediatley afterwards.

"Go, Yanma," Lark said. His dragonfly pokemon started to dart around the enemy pokemon.

"Finally, go, Metagross!" Silver exclaimed. The robot-like steel pokemon emerged from Silver's pokeball.

"Heh heh heh. Puny trainers, we will take care of you right now! Raikou, use Thunder!" Ein exclaimed. Raikou's eyes glared red, and a thunderbolt shot from the ceiling, breaking the roof, into Yanma's back, making it faint.

"Unbelivable... Yanma!" Lark ran up to his fainted flying pokemon, suprised that his best pokemon was destroyed in one attack. Venus's Suicune, however, stopped him in his tracks.

"Suicune, use crunch!" Venus yelled, and Suicune bit down on Lark's back, and he fell unconscious.

"What?" May was stunned. "That woman just ordered Suicune to attack Lark!"

"You'll pay for that," Silver said. "Metagross, use Thunderpunch on Suicune!" Metagross's arm began to glow yellow, and it dug into Suicune's side, giving the Suicine impulses of electricity throught its body. Suicune, however, was unphased, as it pursued to shoot an ice beam not at Metagross, but at Silver! Silver, unexpecting the attack, fell to the ground, unable to breath with the ice over her face.

"They're to strong..." May said. "We have to retreat..." But before May could finish, she was knocked into a wall and paralyzed by Raikou's thunderbolt attack.

"MAY!" Ash yelled as he ran to see if hisfriend was still alive. He was struck in the back with another thunderbolt, and he fell to the ground before he could reach her.

"No... such power..." Wes said. "We cannot hope to win..."

Ein and Venus smiled menacingly at Wes, and his four companions laying injured on the ground...

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OOC Section! 

OK, I lied. At least I got one more review, and was added to a C2, so, yeah. I can't stop writing this.

Edit: Changed the ages a little and one word in the chapter.


	4. The Battle Pt2

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**

**Shadow Games**

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Chapter Four - The Battle, Pt.2

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"Espeon, we have to retreat. We won't be able to do anything to them," Wes commented sadly. 

"Hold that thought!" A feminine voice from the ceiling said. "Prepare for trouble!"

"And make it double," A male voice said from above. A man with purple hair and a woman with pink hair dropped into the room. By now, Ash and May had recovered from the thunderbolts and Lark and Silver had recovered from the Crunch and Ice Beam, though Silver was purple in the face from lack of being able to breath for a whole two miniutes.

"Jessie and James?" Ash said in an inquisitive tone.

"Mom! Dad! What are you doing here?" Lark looked at Team Rocket, also inquisitive.

"Well, we heard you were in trouble, so we dropped by," James said to Lark, his son.

"Team Rocket are your parents?" Ash said to Lark.

"Team Rocket?" Lark said.

"Well," Jessie looked at her son and sweatdropped.

"Guys, we have bigger issues than a family reunion," Wes said to Lark and Team Rocket.

"Two more losers to squash? Gladly. Suicune, use surf to wash them away!" Venus said. A giant crested wave hit the group, now seven, and made them all collapse. Lark stood up and spit water from his mouth, and the rest of the group followed.

"Go, Pidgeot!" Lark said, sending out a giant majestic bird pokemon.

"Ech, I can't belive we're working with Team Rocket..." Ash said, reluctantly.

"Deal with it, we retired years ago," Jessie snapped at Ash. "Go, Seviper!"

"Cacturne, come out too!" James yelled.

"Oh, brother," May groaned as well.

* * *

"Use thunderbolt on Pidgeot!" Ein exclaimed. 

"Heh heh heh..."Lark laughed. This was just what he was hoping for. As the thunderbolt was released, he said...

"Pidgeot! Mirror Move now!" Pidgeot created a mirror-like screen in front of it and the screen absorbed the electrical attack. But that was not all. It created a thunderstorm around Raikou and Suicune, with the same power as if Raikou had used the attack on itself.

"NO!" Ein screamed. "NOOOO!" He was yelling at the top of his lungs as both legendary shadow pokemon fell to the ground.

"Suicune, come back!" Venus yelled, holding up Suicune's pokeball. "We'll meet again," Venus said, as a black helicopter descended into the building. Ein and Venus stepped into the helicopter.

"Ta ta," Venus said. "But you should know. When we lose... everybody loses."

As the helicopter flew off, the group pondered what she had just said when they heard a rapid beeping noise.

"Run!" Wes yelled starting to run. "RUN!"

The entire group of seven started to run, with their pokemon behind them. In seconds the entire hotel exploded, the group safely outside.

Ash looked at the hotel and said, "Their goes complimentary breakfast."

Everyone laughed.

"Don't laugh yet," A dangerous voice said behind the group. "You're still in danger."

The seven spun around, and they saw a group of no less than thirty Cipher Peons in front of them.A man in a green suit stood in front of them.

"Remember me?" He asked Wes.

"Verde..."Wes said, clenching his fists. "Guys, run. I'll hold him off."

"I don't think so," Verde said, snapping his fingers. All of the peons held up rifles. "You see, if you run, you lose."

"Really?" Silver said. "Go, Ariados! Usespider webto stop them in their tracks for a while so we can run!" The red and black spider pokemon emerged from Silver's pokeball and used aspider webattack, entangling the peons and Verde. "That won't hold them off for long! Run! Wes, I trust you to take care of Ariados until we reunite!"

Wes nodded.

"Let's go then!" Ash said. He started to run away, into the alleyways of Pyrite, with May close behind. Team Rocket went off another way, and Silver and Lark went in the opposite direction.

* * *

Ash found himself and May in a seemingly deserted alleyway. Seemingly being the key word.

"Freeze," He heard from the top of a building. Twelve Cipher Peons dropped down, with guns out. A man with a red suit dropped down in front of them.

"Hello. My name is Rosso. I hope you don't mind surrendering to us," The man said.

"Never..." Ash said coldly.

"What are you talking about," May whispered. "They have guns!"

"Too late," Rosso said. "Fire!"

* * *

Team Rocket ran as fast as they could down the open roads of Pyrite, now deserted. It was raining, which made it even harder to run without slipping. All of a sudden, four green and yellow pokemon made their way around the duo.

"Hey," James said. "Those are Ludicolo! That loser Brock had one!"

"Let the music play!" A voice said, and a ridiculous theme song started to play out of nowhere. A man with a pink and white afro in a yellow disco suit dropped from the awnings on one of the shops.

"Freeze, y'all!" He said, pulling out a large machinegun seemingly out of nowhere.

* * *

"Come on!" Lark yelled to Silver. "COME ON! You don't want to die, do you?"

"I'm coming..." Silver said. All of a sudden, a shadow ball attack from the air hit the ground near Silver, stopping her in her tracks. A man on a Skarmory descended. "Didn't think I'd miss the party!" Gonzap yelled from atop his metal bird. He had two pistols in his hand.

"Silver!" Lark yelled. "Silver, that man has a gun!"

"Damn right I do," Gonzap said darkly to Lark, having Skarmory turn around at the speed of light. Gonzap shot the pistol, aiming right at Lark's stomach.

(Dun dun dun...)

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OOC Section! 

Oh, and in case you didn't notice, I changed the ages a little from last time. Ash is 20 and May is 18, and they're not engaged (yet). Jesse is 33 and James is 34. Plus a new title.


	5. Of Love and Death

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**

**Shadow Games**

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Chapter Five -Of Love and Death

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"NO!" Ash yelled. He stood in front of May, creating a human shield. "Don't shoot her!"

"Heh heh... why not?" Rosso said. "I said fire!"

"Right." One of the Cipher Peons said. He held his gun up.

"Pikapika!" Pikachu jumped out of Ash's backpack. "Chuuu!" Pikachu used a light screen attack to create a giant dome of energy around herself, May, and Ash. The peons began to fire, but the shots just bounced harmlessly off of the light screen. "Pi pikachu!" Pikachu said toAsh.

"Listen, May. We don't have much time," Ash said. "You haveto run when the light screen breaks."

"What?" May said. "No! I can't leaveyouto...to..."

"Look, May. I might never have told you this before, but... I... I love you," Ash said. "You can't die here. You just I promise I'll catch up to you."

"Ash..." May said. "I love you too. And that's why I can't leave you here to die."

"I promised that I would come," Ash said. "Run. As soon as the light screen breaks then run." Silently, May looked atAsh, and then nodded.She knewAshwas right.

"Oh, Ash... please, be careful," May pleaded."But I'll run. I'll be waiting for you."

And at that moment, the light screenshattered into pieces.

* * *

"Give it up, Wes," Verde said, shakingthe spider webs from his body. "It's thirty-one against one. We all have guns. You have nothing." 

"Wrong," Wes said weakly. "I might die here, but the only thing I will regret is not having said good bye..."

"Then, you are not afraid to die?" Verde asked, confused.

"No, you bastard!" Wes yelled. "I wan never afraid to die! I'd die a thousand times to rid this world of Cipher!"

"Then so be it," Verde said, firing his gun into Wes's gut.

* * *

"Team Rocket!" Mirror B. said, toting his giant gun under his arm.

"Mirror B.," James said. "You may have quit Team Rocket, but some things will never change.

"Oh, how I don't need a gun to disposeof you two? Ludicolos, use hydro pump!" Mirror B. said.

The four duck-like pokemon shot powerful streams of water into Jessie and James, which sent them flying.

"Looks like Team Rocket's blasting off..."

Mirror B. fired his machinegun several times into the air, and Team Rocket never finished their catchphrase.

* * *

"Lark, NO!" Silver said. She ran up to Lark, who now had a bullet in his side. "Lark... you didn't have to... go get shot..." She began to sob.

"Silver... behind you..." Lark said.

"What?" Silver said. It was too late. A rain of bullets had already began to fall in Silver's direction.

* * *

"May, go, NO!" Ash yelled.

"Ash..." May sobbed as she ran down the alley.

"Should we give chase?" One of the peons asked.

"No. Just kill the boy." Rosso responded coldly. A rain ofgunfire engulfed Ash.

"Pikachu... thunderbolt..." Ash said wearily.

"Piika, chuuuuu!" Pikachu yelled, as she sent 10,000 volts of electricity through Team Cipher.

"Unh..." Rosso groaned as he fell over. He had a special shock-freeze-proof uniform on, but the other peons were dead.

"Now... to find May..." Ash walked off as fast as he could, trailing blood after him as he moved. "May... May..." He called out.

"Ash?" May's feminine voice asked from the distance. "Oh, Ash!" She ran up to him from the shadows and threw her arms around him. "Ash are you all right?"

"Me... I'm fine..." Ash said, coughing up blood. "What about... you..." Ash's eyes closed and his head went limp in May's arms. May watched as his chest heaved up and down and blood poured out of a wound near his heart.

* * *

"Ugh..." Wes gripped his stomach as the bullet made contact. "Unh... goodbye... Rui..."

"WES!" He heard a voice calling, distant in his mind, though he saw a girl approaching him. "Wes, Wes, are you all right?" The voices grew farther and farther away as Wes closed his eyes, blood leaking from his stomach on to the ground.

"You did this to him..." The girl said coldly to Verde, the gun still smoking in his hands.

"Of course," Verde said. "And I'll do it again."

* * *

"Silver... NO!" Lark pushed Silver out of the way. The rain of bullets hit Lark full on.

"Foolish kid," Gonzap said. 'I kinda feel sorry for him... but not really. I think to ease the guilt, I'll let his girlfriend go free,' Gonzap thought. "See you around, losers." Skarmory and Gonzap flew up into the sky.

"Silver..." Lark said. "Before... you know... I want to tell you..."

It was difficult to look at Lark now. He had gunshot wounds all over his body. The one on his left cheek was most prominent... it opened a clean hole to inside of his mouth, and most of the flesh around it was burned away.

"...I love you," Lark said, as he fell unconscious.

* * *

((I have really nothing else to say about Team Rocket... but they're not dead.))

* * *

OOC Section!

People die. Deal with it. You won't know who's really dead until the next chapter.

I decided to add 2 chappys today...


	6. Forever

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon.

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**Shadow Games**

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Chapter6 – Forever

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"Ash…" May's voice was a whisper as she looked at the limp body in her arms. Anyone would have thought for sure that Ash was dead, except for the fact that his chest was slowly moving up and down. His body was cold, and he had been shot underneath his heart.

"Pikapi…" Pikachu was tugging on Ash's shirt. "Pika…"

"Ash… please… don't die…" Tears started to well up in May's eyes as she watched Ash's breathing rate get lower and lower, almost as slow as he wasn't breathing at all. His body was beginning to get colder and May could feel Ash's life leaving his body.

"No…" She said in an inaudible whisper. May suddenly had an idea – "Pikachu, use a thunder shock attack on Ash! It might jumpstart his heart so he can breath again!"

"Pika…" Pikachu was hesitant on attacking her best friend, but she eventually came to her senses. "Chuuu!" Pikachu screamed as she let 1,000 volts of electricity flow into Ash's body.

"Unh…" Ash started to twitch. "Pikachu?"

"Ash!" May exclaimed excitedly. "Ash, you're alive!"

"M…May? Where am I…"

"You don't remember?" May said incredulously. "You were shot! You know, with a gun! Oh, I was so worried…"

"You mean I was shot?" Ash said. He sounded even more surprised than May. All of a sudden, he felt a sharp pain in his chest. "Augghhh!" Ash grabbed his chest, his eyes looking like they had popped out of his head.

"Ash? Ash, what's wrong?"  
"My… my chest…" Ash said. "I need help…"

"Oh, no… Ash, I don't know what to do…"

"May… I feel like I'm going to die…"

"Oh no… not again… and the hotel's gone and those goons are everywhere… there's no way for you to get help! We're trapped…" May started to cry into Ash's shoulder.

"May… everything's going to be alright…"

"You mean it?" May said, wiping the tears from her eyes.

"Yes. I'm not going to die." Ash stood up and pulled May up. "Now, we have to find a place to rest. We'll worry about the others later."

Ash started to slowly walk off, one of his hands on his chest. May followed close behind him.

"Hey, Ash, look, there's a door!" May was pointing to a door in the side of a tall brick building. "There's probably a bed in there that you can rest in!"

"Sounds like a good idea. I probably couldn't walk another step."

May put her hand on the doorknob, afraid it would be locked, but it turned and the door opened. 'Strange…' She thought. May and Ash entered the small door, entering a one-room apartment. It seemed to be abandoned.

"Look," May said, pointing to a corner. There was a queen sized bed in the corner, with a flickering lamp next to it.

"Good, a bed," Ash said, walking over to it and lying down.

'I'm a little bit tired also…' May thought. 'But I can't go to sleep… I just couldn't live with myself if Ash went to sleep and didn't wake up.'

"Ash, can I see the cut? I might be able to help you," May said, sitting down on the bed next to Ash.

"I guess," Ash said, taking off his jacket. Underneath, he was wearing a black undershirt. There was a large hole that had been burned in the shirt where the bullet had entered his body. May started to look at his gunshot wound. "Oh, God…" She started to say. The wound was deep, and his whole shirt had blood painted all over it. The actual wound was purple and dark red, the skin was burned off around it, and May could see a bullet about two centimeters into Ash's chest.

"I'll be right back, Ash. Just don't go to sleep yet."

"All right, May. I won't sleep."

May went over to a small door, and opened it. She had guessed right, the bathroom was inside. She grabbed a large towel and started to soak it in water. Meanwhile, she looked for something to remove the bullet.

May came back in the room with a large tweezers and the towel.

"OK, Ash, I think I can remove the bullet."

"Will it hurt?" Ash said jokingly.

"That's not funny," May said. "Now, hold still…" May put the tweezers into Ash's cut, and grasped the bullet between them. 'Thank god they don't still use expanding lead bullets,' May thought as she pulled the bullet out. Ash winced as the bullet left his skin, but then calmed down. "I found some hydrogen peroxide in the bathroom," May said. "This will hurt, so are you ready?" Ash nodded. "OK, then," May said. She opened the black bottle and poured some of the peroxide onto the towel. She put the end of the towel into Ash's cut, and it immediately began to foam up. (Keep in mind the cut it about a centimeter wide ant two centimeters deep… it's a big cut.)

"Owww!" Ash yelled.

"Ash! Be quiet… they'll hear us." May said. "Pikachu can't take hundreds of them, you know." May pulled the towel out of Ash's cut. "Better?"

"Yeah… thanks a lot, May."

"Ok, now to clean the blood off." May put the non-bloody part of the towel on Ash's chest, and wiped the blood off of his skin. "All done!" May smiled at what she had done. "Now, for the bandage." May rolled up Ash's shirt, and started to wrap a white bandage around his upper chest. He had gotten other cuts by being scathed with bullets, but miraculously the one under his heart had been the only one to get in. "Now, you should just rest," May said. "That should prevent blood loss, so you don't have to worry about… you know."

"You're still worried about me dying?" Ash said softly to May. "May, I couldn't die now. I'd miss you too much."

"Ash, that was the most romantic thing you've ever said! I guess you aren't that dense after all."

"You thought I was dense?" Ash asked with a smile. "By the way, was there a shower in the bathroom? I wanted to wash off the rest of the blood."

"Of course, where did you think I got the towel from?" May asked.

"All right, I'll be right back," Ash said. He stood up, and walked over to the bathroom, pulling off his bloody shirt.

-Ten minutes later-

Ash walked out of the bathroom in a towel. "May, are there any clothes out there? Mine are kind of bloody."

"No, it seems that this place is abandoned… wait, here's something!" May had found a plain white bathrobe hanging on the side of what seemed to be a dresser. She handed it to Ash. "Here you go!"

"Thanks, May," Ash said, walking into the bathroom to change. May giggled. 'I guess that all he needed to wake up and smell the flowers was a gunshot…' And then she remembered their situation.

"Hey, May…" Ash said, coming out of the bathroom with the robe on. "I want to give you something that I wanted to give you earlier."

"What would that be?" May asked, faking confusion.

"This," Ash said, wrapping his arms around her and putting his lips on hers. May returned the kiss, and they stood in the apartment kissing for ten whole minutes. Ash finally backed away.

"I love you, May."

"I love you too."

"Thanks for, you know, saving my life earlier," Ash said, laying down in the bed.

"No problem," May said with a giggle, laying down beside him. "I'm glad you kissed me. I thought I was going to have to make the first move, you being dense and all."

"Hey," Ash said, in a mumble because he was already half asleep.

"Well you are," May said yawning. Ash was unable to answer, since he was already asleep. "Night," May said, falling asleep.

((OOC – If you're wondering why I haven't mentioned any of the other characters yet, what happens to them is just as long as this… I just don't want to write it. If you haven't guessed Ash and May are the real main characters, and when they meet back up with the others.))

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((May's POV))

"Ash!" I was screaming. "Ash! Move out of the way!" I was frozen, all I could do was watch Ash get shot countless times, pushed against a brick wall, his blood pouring onto the ground.

"May, run away!" Ash was saying to me. "Run, now!"

"I can't," I yelled back. "I can't…"

"Run!" Ash said, being shot again. "Please!"

I gathered my senses and started to run, but not away from the shooters. I ran towards Ash, and pushed him on to the ground to protect him. "Pikachu, attack them!" I found myself saying, and Ash's Pikachu attacked them all with a thunderbolt attack. "Ash, are you all right?"

This time, Ash's wounds were worse than before, much worse. He was laying down in a pool of blood, with holes all over his body. "May… I love you…" He said as his eyes closed.

"Ash, Ash, you can't die… NO!" I screamed as Ash stared to vanish in midair. I try to embrace him, but he's going… gone. "Ash! ASH!"

((Back to normal))

"ASH!" May was screaming in her sleep.

"May, wake up!" Ash said, shaking May. "May! They'll hear us, and come here!"

"Huh?" May said. She had woken up from a bad dream.

"May, you were screaming my name, over and over…" May didn't say anything. She just sat up and embraced Ash's body.

"Ash… you were dead… and then you were gone…"

"It's ok, May," Ash said, running his fingers through her hair. "I'm here, and I won't be going away any time soon."

May didn't say anything. She just continued to cry, her tears streaming down her face onto Ash's bare shoulder.

"Come on, now, it's morning. Let's see if we can find anything to eat." Ash said. May got up and nodded, following Ash to the cupboards. "Actually," Ash said, "I think I'll go see if my clothes are dry."

Ash walked into the bathroom where he had hung his clothes. He took down his jeans that he had washed the bloodstains out of and slipped them on, along with his black shirt. The shirt was tight on him, but it fit for now.

"May, did you find anything to eat?" He called.

"Yeah, just some bread and water though." May replied.

"Sounds good to me," Ash said, returning to the kitchen. Ash used his pocketknife to cut the loaf of bread in half and both May and Ash sat down at the small table. Ash poured the water out of the bottle into two cups. He sunk his teeth into the bread, and finished his half of the loaf in seconds. He gulped down his water as well. "So, May, where do you think we should go now? Should we see if we can find the others?"

"Sure," May said. "I hope that they're still in this part of town…"

Three knocks on the door could be heard.

"No!" May whispered. "They've found us. We have to hide!"

((Getting the impression here that Cipher are kind of like the Nazis now?))

"No," Ash said. "They caused us both pain last night, and it's payback time." Since Pikachu was still sleeping, Ash grabbed a pokéball from his belt, and walked up to the door. He opened the door, and in the doorway stood an exhausted girl with red hair carrying Wes.

"Hurry! Let us in!" The girl said, running in. "They're after us!"

The girl ran in, knocking Ash aside, and shut the door and locked it.

"That should hold them for now," the girl said.

"Wes," Ash said. "What happened to him?"

"He's been shot. By Cipher," the girl said.

'Not again…' Ash and May both mentally groaned.

"Well, we've been hiding in an alley since this morning, and last night, I heard bells, and I looked up. Ho-oh was above us… it was using heal bell to heal Wes. But he's still unconscious, and now we're hiding from Cipher." The girl finally took a breath after finishing her explanation.

"Yeah. The same thing happened to Ash, except I helped him instead of Ho-oh," May said.

"Who are you again?" Ash said.

"Oh, sorry. My name is Rui. I came here to check on Wes…"

She was cut off by Ash. "You're Wes's girlfriend? He's told us about you."

Rui blushed. "Sort of."

"He looks terrible…" Ash said. Wes had more blood all over him than Ash did, and that was saying something.

"Where am I?" Ash, May, and Rui all turned around and saw Wes sitting up on the bed.

((Funny how all the main characters' names have three letters . ))

"We're hiding," Rui said.

"Rui," Wes said. "When did you get here?"

"Last night."

"Oh. OK. Where are Lark and Silver? Or Jessie and James?"

"We haven't found any of them," Ash said. "Actually, me and May have been hiding here all night. Ash was almost killed."

There was another knock on the door.

"Uh oh. This time, I don't think it's going to be friendly company," Ash said. "Hide."

He opened the door, and saw Rosso standing in the doorframe with three peons behind him.

"Take this, moron," Rosso said, punching Ash square in the face. Ash heard a crack, and felt blood pouring from his nose.

"Oh, God, I am so sick of you!" Ash said. "Go, Flareon!" Ash threw the pokéball he had had in his hand earlier. "Use Fire Blast!"

"Flare Flare!" Flareon gathered a ball of orange energy in his mouth and shot a ring of fire at Rosso. As it hit, Rosso was engulfed in a fiery explosion.

"You practically killed me last night! Not to mention how much that would have hurt me, do you know how much it would have hurt May?" Ash exclaimed, burning with anger. But Rosso couldn't hear him. Ash had trained his Flareon so well that within seconds, Rosso had become a pile of ashes.

"Flamethrower the rest of them," Ash said angrily. The other peons, to scared to move, were incinerated as soon as the flamethrower attack hit their bodies. "Good job, Flareon. Return," Ash said, withdrawing Flareon into its home as he shut the door.

"Ash… you were so unfeeling…" May said.

"Remember what he _did_ last night!" Ash said to May. "He practically killed me, not to mention what he could have done to you!"

"I guess you're right… oh! You're nose is bleeding!" May said.

"It's ok," Ash said. "You're all right. That's all that matters to me."

"Um, hello guys!" Wes said from behind the bed. "That was real nice, but can you come over here? We've figured out what we're going to do."

"Yeah?" Ash said.

"We're going to Agate Village for a while. They can't get us there. Then we'll plan for our return here to stop Cipher," Rui explained. "I trust you two have a vehicle?"

"Actually…" Ash said. "We do. We bought a hover bike when we came to Orre; we thought we might need it."

"Good," Wes said. "Then let's go. I know a secret passage here. It leads to the sands where the vehicles are parked." Wes opened up a trapdoor in the floorboards. "Follow me."

Ash and May followed Rui and Wes to a garage-like place where Ash had remembered purchasing his hover bike.

"Everyone can come in mine," Ash said. "It seats four."

"Ok," Wes said. Rui and Wes climbed in the two backseats and May sat in the seat right next to Ash.

"Let's go!" Ash said, and the four were off to Agate Village.


	7. Unfriendly Faces

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon

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**Shadow Games**

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Chapter7 – Unfriendly faces

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"Ummm, Ash, you just passed the entrance to Agate," Wes said, laughing at Ash's inability to read a map.

"I know," Ash said. "I'm just parking the hover bike over here!"

"Nice save," Wes said. "But the parking lot's on the other side of the city."

"I know that… we're taking the scenic route!"

"Riiiight," Wes said.

"Just stop it; I've been reading maps for ten years now."

"And you still aren't any good at it," May said laughing.

"Look, we're there. Told you I knew how to read maps. Everyone get out."

Ash, May, Wes, and Rui all stepped out of the vehicle.

"It's been a while since I've seen green grass, or green anything to be exact," May said marveling at the tropical atmosphere around them.

"Agate is a natural oasis in the desert," Rui explained. "Come on, I'll show you guys where you can stay."

The group of four entered the lush green town, and Rui brought them to a tall building built into the wall.

"This is the Agate Hotel," Rui said. "You two can stay here."

"But where will you and Wes stay?" Ash asked.

"My grandparents live here," Rui said. "On the way over Wes agreed to stay with me in their house."

"Sounds good," May said. "Come on, Ash, we should probably check in to a room. I think we'll be staying here for a while."

"Ok," Ash said.

"See you guys soon," Wes said, following Rui to her grandparents' house.

"Bye!" Ash said. "Now, do you suppose this town is going to be abandoned also?"

"I highly doubt it. I haven't seen any of those goons around here," May said.

"Then, let's go in," Ash said. He opened the door, and May entered the hotel followed by Ash.

"Wow," May said. "This place is much more beautiful than… what is _she _doing here?" May exclaimed looking into the lobby. She saw a tall and thin girl wearing a blue suit with her red hair down to her shoulders. Even thought she had changed her look, it was still obvious to May that she was…

"Misty?" Ash said. "What are you doing here?"

"Huh?" Misty turned around and saw Ash and May. "Now, this is a surprise. I thought the league had only sent me to investigate the Shadow Pokémon, but I guess…"

"Well, since we weren't sent here on the same assignment, we'd better not communicate much, if at all," Ash said, walking up to the front counter with May.

"But Ash," Misty said.

"Look, if you think I've forgiven you for what you did three years ago, then you're wrong. Just don't talk to us, ok?" Ash said.

"It was only a joke," Misty said. "Besides…"

"No, it wasn't. Now if you'll excuse us," Ash said, walking up to the desk to check in to a room that he had checked out over the telephone on the way there.

'If only _she_ wasn't here… then Ash would have treated me differently…' Misty thought, walking away.

"Come on, Ash," May said as they were walking up to their room. "You don't have to be so down about it."

"Yeah, I do," Ash said. "Remember what happened?"

"Yes," May said. "I remember vividly."

'She's going to ruin everything… Ash loves me, and she's going to take him away…' May was thinking.

"So, we better stay away from her."

"You're right. But can't you just forget about it now?"

"I guess," Ash said.

"Good," May said. "Now let's go."

-Thirty minutes later-

"Well, we're finally settled in… I still can't believe that we're in a room right next to Misty. It's almost like a set-up or something," May said sitting on the full bed in the two-room hotel room.

"Well she can't come in our room," Ash said, kissing her on the cheek.

"I know… but I still get the feeling that she's going to ruin everything."

"I know," Ash said. "But she won't. Because I love you."

"I wish she could just accept that you don't love her and we could all be friends again," May said.

"I could never be friends with her again," Ash said. "At least, not for a long time. What she did… I can't bring myself to forgive her."

-FLASHBACK-

((Ash's POV))

"_Come on, Ashy. I don't think that May would mind just one kiss," Misty says, moving closer to me.._

"_Don't call me that," I say. "And I already told you, I don't love you."_

"_I know you do, deep down inside. I mean, why would you love May? You've known me for much longer…"_

"_I do love May," I say. "And there isn't anything you can do to stop that." I stand up._

"_Well, I love you," Misty says, putting her arms around me, and kissing me._

"_Stop it!" I say, pulling away, but Misty holds on tight, now kissing me on the lips. May walks up behind me…_

"_Ash, how could you! I thought you loved me!" May runs off crying._

"_Misty!" I say, pulling away finally. "Look what you've done! I told you that I didn't love you, and you couldn't just let that go, could you!"_

"_I can't help it that I love you," Misty says. "Besides, now that she's gone, I have you all to myself."_

"_No, you don't, Misty. I love May, and I always will. And now, I hate you," I say, the harsh words flowing out of my mouth like vomit. "Now May will never love me. Not after what you did." I let the word 'you' come out of my mouth with disgust and malice, like vomit. I run from the gazebo after May. 'She'll never understand, never, never…' I thought quietly. _

"_Just go away," May says when she sees me. "I know you love Misty. Go and kiss her some more."_

"_No… it's not like that… I've loved you since I first saw you…"_

"_I don't have to listen to you lie," May says. "I loved you, but now that feeling is gone."_

"_NO!" I say, running off crying. I can't believe what Misty did… if she really cared about me she would let me be happy with May, but now I'm more unhappy than ever in my entire life. I can't go on living. I dive into the nearest pool of water… and then everything becomes black…_

- END FLASHBACK –

- FLASHBACK –

((May's POV))

_I run exited to the gazebo. Ash had told me to meet him there… our last kiss there was so romantic, I can't wait to kiss him again. I see the white dome supported by pillars in the distance, with someone sitting inside. As I move closer, I see two people! Ash, and Misty, talking. Ash stands up, and Misty embraces him, kissing him._

'_No…' I say to myself. 'Ash, how could you…'_

_I walk up behind him, and find myself saying the exact same words to him._

"_Ash, how could you! I thought you loved me!" I run off, tears welling up in my eyes, and hide in the forest. 'Ash… I loved you…' I think. What seems like hours later, but now I know only as minutes, I see Ash coming towards me. "Just go away…" I say sadly. "I loved you, but now that feeling is gone."_

"_NO!" Ash started to cry, and I could see inside him, but I couldn't forgive him. Ash runs off, leaving me alone to cry._

"_May, he didn't kiss me," a voice said. I turn to see Misty. "May, he loves you more than anything in the world. I was selfish. Ash didn't invite me… I just came and forced a kiss out of him…"_

"_You would have thought about how he felt if you really loved him," I say. I find my legs moving, and then running. I don't know where I'm going, but I know it's to Ash. I see him… lying down in the lake, not breathing._

"_What… what have I done…" I say looking at Ash. "Why didn't I believe him…?" I submit to crying, falling on to the ground with tears rolling down my eyes. I knew what I had to do, and I was about to crawl into the water, when I heard Brock coming._

"_Ash? May? Where are you?" The familiar voice called out. _

"_Here," I tried to say, but I couldn't talk… the voice just would not leave my body. I knew I had to do it right then and there. I dove into the water, and everything went black. 'I love you Ash… and I'm so sorry,' I thought as I fell into the state of unconsciousness._

- END FLASHBACK –

"Ash… I'm sure glad Brock had his cell phone," May said.

"Yeah, if he didn't call 911, I probably wouldn't be looking into the most beautiful eyes I've ever seen," Ash commented.

"I love you, Ash," May said, pulling him into a kiss.

"I love you too," Ash said when they finally broke apart, only to start passionately kissing again.

"What's all this about love?" A familiar masculine voice said. Wes walked into the only half-closed door. Neither Ash nor May noticed.

"BOO!" Wes said.

"EEK!" May screamed, backing away from Ash. "Wes? We were kind of in the middle of something."

"Well, the door was open," Wes said. Rui entered the door behind Wes.

"That doesn't mean you can come in," Ash said. "I don't think that we disturbed you when you were kissing."

"How did you know…?" Rui said blushing.

"So you _were_ kissing!" Ash said triumphantly. Rui smacked Ash on the face.

"Sorry…" Ash said. "Owww… It was only a joke."

May laughed. "So, what did you come over for?"

"Well," Wes said. "Rui's grandparents aren't here. They've gone on a vacation to Hoenn."

"Well, in that case, there are two rooms," May said.

"Great! We accept," Rui responded. "So, which room do you want?"

"Ok, I guess you just skipped the part where we offered the room," Ash said. Everyone laughed. "Well, I don't care. Choose one, I guess."

"Alright. We'll take the other one," Wes said, laughing, as he and Rui went through the door connecting the rooms. "You can continue what you were in the middle of if you want to." Wes closed the door, and Ash and May could hear laughter from the through the door.

"Shall we?" May asked.

"Of course," Ash said, starting to make out with May once more.

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OOC:

I know I said Misty wouldn't be in this story, but I decided to put her in just for the fun of it. Of course, she's evil && If you thought what she did last time was bad, just wait for what she's gonna do to Ash and May _this_ time!


	8. Will You Marry Me?

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon.

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**Shadow Games**

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Chapter 8– "Will you marry me?"

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"Why are we being carried to Agate again in metal cages?" Silver said to Lark, Jessie, and James. The four were in a large metal cage in a jet.

"Because, Team Cipher totally beat us, and now they're going to take over Agate," James said.

"Oh, yeah. Thanks for reminding me," Silver said.

"I still can't believe Ho-oh saved me. It's like it had a personal grudge against Cipher and it knows only _I_ can stop them," Lark said.

"Stop gloating, so a bird saved your life," Silver said whacking Lark in the back of the head.

"I don't know why Ho-oh saved us either, we're supposed to be bad guys!" Jessie said.

"You guys can't be bad guys! You're my mom and dad!" Lark said. Jessie and James sweatdropped.

"Well, you know those twerps Ash and May?" James said. "We used to try and steal Pikachu from them!"

"Yes, we were part of Team Rocket," Jessie said. "But we retired years ago when we got married! What are the odds that we would meet up with those twerps again?"

"So… you guys were bad guys? And you used to try and steal my friend's Pikachu?"

"Well," Jessie and James sweatdropped again. "It was business," Jessie finished.

"And we had a cool motto!" James added in. He sighed. "If only Meowth were here… we could recite it for you!"

"James, where is Meowth anyways?" Jessie asked.

"You gave me Meowth when I decided to become a Pokémon Trainer," Lark said. "If you want Meowth back, you can have him. I never used him much anyways. I prefer flying Pokémon."

"Hey, I heard that!" Meowth said in his New Jersey accent as he jumped out of Lark's backpack. "Team Rocket?" Meowth said when he saw Jessie and James.

"Yes, Meowth! Ready to do the motto?"

"You bet!" Meowth said.

"Ok, then, let's go!" James said.

"Prepare for trouble!"

"And make it double!"

"To protect the world from devastation!"

"To unite all peoples within our nation!"

"James, what do I say next?"

"Umm… I forget."

"Guys, you mean you don't remember the motto?"

"It's been five years since I quit Team Rocket!" James said.

"Yeah, me too!" Jessie said.

"And when we don't want to be evil anymore, then why remember the motto!" James commented.

"Ok… for a motto that was pretty lame," Lark said. "But then again, you are parents… that _is _what they're for."

"What's what being parents is for?" James said.

"Being lame…" Lark said.

"I'm not lame!" James said.

"QUIET BACK THERE! IT'S NOT EASY TO FLY A PLANE, YOU KNOW!" A voice said.

"Sorry!" everyone yelled back up. All of a sudden the plane came to a stop. A man came into the back.

"Ok, hand over your Pokémon everyone. Come on," The man said. He put a sack into the cage waiting for the four heroes to put their pokéballs into.

"Fat chance," Silver said. "Magneton, use thunderbolt!" Silver threw a blue and red pokéball into the air, and a Pokémon that looked like three silver balls with eyes and magnets for arms. It started to glow blue, and a thunderbolt came from the sky and hit the plane.

"Somehow, I think that was a bad idea," James said to Silver.

"Too bad! You had your chance! And I like that Magneton. It looks pretty powerful," the man said. He held up a pokéball and threw it at Silver's Magneton.

"No! Magneton!" Silver screamed. "Return!" She held up her pokéball, but Magneton could not go back in. "No… that man has a snagging device!"

"We have bigger problems!" Jessie said. The cage they were in was detaching from the plane! "We're blasting off again!"

The cage jerked and fell from the plane.

"Aaaaah!" Everyone screamed as the cage fell to certain doom below…

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"Huh?" Ash said. "What was that?"

"What was what?" May said. She was too occupied with making out with Ash to have noticed anything.

"I heard a crash! By the entrance."

"Why does that bother you?" May asked.

"Well, we can't sit here all day."

"Why not?" May said. "I like kissing…"

"I hope you didn't forget about Team Cipher," Ash said. "For all we know, they could have gotten here already…"

"We could just go back to Hoenn, you know. Just forget about all this," May said.

"We can't do that, May. We're on an assignment," Ash said.

"Ok," May said. "We'll go check it out."

Ash and May left the room and took the elevator down to the lobby. They opened the front door to the hotel and…

"Eek!" May screamed and jumped behind Ash. "Ash… there's… a… a cage in front of the door! With people in it!"

"Lark? Silver? Team Rocket? What are you all doing in a cage?" Ash said.

"Well, we were captured by Team Cipher, and, they dropped us here after we refused to give them our Pokémon," Jessie said.

"And they… they stole my Magneton!" Silver wailed.

"They stole you Pokémon?" May said. Wes and Rui came down the stairs, and saw the four people in a cage.

"Guys? Are you ok?" Wes said to the four caged members of the group. "We need to get you out of there!"

"No problem," Ash said. "Go, Machamp! Try and bend the bars of the cage so they can get out! Gee, I never believed I would be helping Team Rocket."

"Pikapi…" Pikachu said, her head sticking up from Ash's backpack.

"Machamp!" Machamp yelled as he used strength to easily tear the cage apart.

"Thanks, Ash," Lark said as he helped Silver out of the cage. Team Rocket stood up too.

"Thanks, twerp. We could have easily gotten out ourselves, though," Jessie said.

"Don't celebrate yet," a voice said from above the group. A helicopter was flying above. "You may have escaped last time, but this time, I'm coming to dispose of you myself." A tall grey-haired man dropped from the helicopter. He wore a purple uniform. Wes recognized him instantly.

"Nascour!" Wes yelled.

"Ah, Wes. I didn't think you had survived. Most unfortunate that you did. But… it's not you I'm after." Nascour aimed an icy glare at Ash and May. "You two… interesting how one of my top operatives 'kills' you and I find him and fifteen of out men electrocuted and incinerated when I come to see for myself."

"So you're the head of Cipher?" Ash said.

"No, he's not. Evice…" Wes started to say.

"Evice?" Nascour seemed amused. "I took care of that old fool long ago. He was too careless for his own good. Now, if everyone will back off, I would like to battle you two."

"_You_ want to battle _us_?" Ash said. "No offense, but May and I have beaten everyone we've came across, and we've also both beaten the Hoenn league, so…"

"Fools. I don't care about your accomplishments. I know one thing, though… and that's that you are both… no, you are all going to die right here. All of your struggles have been in vain."

"Could you please stop giving us long speeches and battle us already?" May said. "I'm kind of annoyed."

"Foolish girl. If I were you, I would be delaying my death as much as I could. But, if you wish to die here and now, I will hesitate to kill you no longer. Go, Blaziken and Gardevoir!" Nascour thundered.

"Now, you're speaking my language," Ash said. "Pikachu, go!"

"Venasaur, you too!" May yelled. The electric mouse hopped out of Ash's backpack, and the giant plant-like dinosaur emerged from May's pokéball.

"Pikachu, thunderbolt attack on Blaziken!" Ash ordered.

"Venasaur, use solar beam on Gardevoir!" May said.

Pikachu fired a thunderbolt attack that hit Blaziken square in the chest. Blaziken fell over, extremely exhausted.

"Yeah! That's one for us!" Ash said.

"Not exactly," Nascour grinned. "Blaziken, reversal!" Blaziken started to glow red and charge at Pikachu…"

Venasaur opened the petals on its back and fired a gigantic white and green beam at Gardevoir.

"Gardevoir, reflect!" Nascour said. A large mirror like screen appeared in front of Gardevoir and dilated the solar beam so much that it barely scratched Gardevoir. "Now, psychic!"

Gardevoir started to gather an invisible force in its hands, and large explosions appeared around Venasaur. "Vena… saur…" Venasaur's legs gave in and it fell to the ground.

"No! Venasaur, return!" May said. "Oh, I just hope Pikachu can manage…"

"Pikachu, dodge it and use iron tail!" Ash said. Pikachu jumped up into the air to dodge Blaziken, and came down on Blaziken's back with a large slam from its tail.

"Blaze…" Blaziken toppled over in defeat.

"Grrr…" Nascour growled. "Blaziken, return! Gardevoir, use thunderbolt on Pikachu!"

"Pikachu, use a thunderbolt of your own!" Pikachu and Gardevoir both started to gather electricity, and they both shot a thunderbolt at each other. The thunderbolt hit Pikachu, but didn't do much damage since Pikachu was an electric type. Pikachu just jumped right back up. Gardevoir, however, couldn't handle Pikachu's thunderbolt and fainted.

"Hah!" Ash said. "Who's good now?"

"I can't believe… I lost so quickly…" Nascour said.

"Oh, Ash, I knew you could do it!" May said flinging her arms around Ash's neck.

"I'll be back," Nascour said. "Believe me, I'll be back." Nascour hopped up into the helicopter and it started to fly away. "And little girl, we don't want your Pokémon." A pokéball fell from the plane, and Silver's Magneton came out.

"Magneton!" Silver said. "Let me return you to your real home…" Silver took out the great ball that she stored Magneton in and put Magneton inside. "Thank you guys so much…"

"Heh, no problem!" Ash said. Then, he turned to May. "May… I know that we just got back together yesterday, but I know we've really loved each other for years." Ash took out a box from his backpack and got down on his knee. "May, will you marry me?"


	9. Misty's Plan

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon.

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**Shadow Games**

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Chapter 10 – Misty's Plan

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"Will you marry me?" Ash's voice rang through May's head. Marry Ash? That's what she had dreamed of ever since she had met him! But why was she finding it so hard to answer him? The box that he held out in front of her contained the most beautiful diamond ring that she had ever seen, not to mention she loved Ash more than anything in the entire world…

"I… I don't know what to say," May finally said, breathless.

"You could say yes," Ash said.

"Y… yes!" May finally exclaimed. "Yes, of course I will marry you!"

"So… the twerps are getting married?" Jessie said. "You can't really help being happy for them. After all, we are on the same side now…"

Misty, meanwhile, had been watching the whole scene from her window.

"Great," she sighed. "I love Ash, but he's just so happy with May… I tried to break them up years ago… I don't think I could do it again. And I wouldn't…" Suddenly, an angel Misty and a devil Misty appeared on Misty's shoulders.

'Of course you want to ruin their relationship!' The devil said. 'You've loved Ash much longer than she has!'

'But Ash does not love you. After what you did to him and May years ago… how could he? I think he hates you now… by leaving them alone you might be able to keep your friendship with both of them,' Misty's shoulder angel said.

'Don't listen to a word she says!' the shoulder devil said. 'She's crazy.'

'If I'm crazy, so are you,' the shoulder angel said. 'Oops, I said something mean!' The angel vanished in a poof of smoke.

"I guess the evil side of me won," Misty said. "Now, I have to get Ash back somehow…"

'You never had Ash,' the shoulder devil said.

"Good point," Misty said.

Meanwhile…

"Congratulations, you two," Wes said.

"Yes, congratulations!" Rui said.

"Thanks, everyone," Ash said. "Now, if you don't mind…"

"Ash and I need to do talk privately," May said. She walked with Ash up to their room; however, in the doorway, there was a little surprise…

"Congratulations, you two! I saw the whole scene from the window!" Misty said, standing in front of their door. 'God, I can't believe I'm saying this… I can't believe I'm going to break them up either… they look so cute together! What am I saying! Now, back to business.'

"Misty… what an unpleasant surprise," May said. "I know that you aren't happy for us. Now, can you please excuse us so we can get into our room?"

"How do you know Ash doesn't want to talk to me?" Misty said.

"Because I said I don't," Ash said. "Don't even try and break us up, because I never loved you. May and I are getting married no matter what you do."

'Not if I have anything to say about it…' Misty thought. "Fine, then…" Misty said. "I'll leave you two to your room." Misty walked into her own room.

"I wonder what that was all about," Ash said.

"What does it matter?" May said from in the room. "Now come in here." Ash walked into the room slowly and closed the door.

"May?" Ash asked. He couldn't see May anywhere.

"Over here," May's voice said from over by the bed.

"Ok," Ash said, walking over to the bed. May jumped up from the side and tackled Ash onto the bed, kissing him.

"I can't believe you proposed to me!" May exclaimed. "Ash, I've been waiting for this day for three years!"

"You have?" Ash asked.

"Of course," May said. "The only reason I didn't make any move in the past three years was because I thought you didn't love me anymore… I can't believe we're getting married!" May rested on the bed next to Ash. "I love you."

"I love you, more than anything in the world," Ash said, putting his arm around her and locking lips with her in a passionate kiss.

Meanwhile in Misty's room…

"They sound so corny… 'Oh, I love you Ash! I love you May!'… They could at least keep it down. It's like they're trying to mock me," Misty said. "Oh, well. By the time Ash and May say 'I do,' I'll have them both under my control…"

Back in Ash and May's room…

((I'm going to put Misty's thoughts in italics.))

"So," May said. "When did you want the wedding to be?"

"I was thinking soon, like two months," Ash said.

_Two months!_

"Really? I was hoping sooner…" May said.

"Well," Ash said, tickling May under the chin, "We can have the wedding any time you want! We just have to give our relatives and friends time to get here."

"How about in two weeks?" May said.

"Two weeks? That's rushing it a little bit, don't you think?" Ash said, sitting up.

"Fine," May said, sitting up as well. She flung her arms around Ash's neck. "How about in three weeks?"

_THREE WEEKS!_

"That's probably enough time," Ash said, looking over his shoulder at May.

"Kiss me," May said. Ash turned his body around and started to make out with May, lying down on the bed.

_Could they be any more gooey and romantic?_

May finally separated lips from Ash.

"I'm tired…" May said, yawning. "I think I'll take a little nap." May fell asleep with her head on Ash's shoulder.

"I guess I'd better rest up also…" Ash said, falling asleep with his forehead against May's.

_Awe, they're so cute… I almost wish I didn't have to break them up. Almost being the key word._

- 30 minutes later –

Ash heard knocks on the door that abruptly woke him up.

"Huh? Who's there?" Ash said, yawning.

"It's us," Wes and Rui said. "We kind of wanted to come into our part of the room…"

"Right," Ash said. He got up from the bed, leaving May asleep, and opened the door.

"Thanks!" Wes and Rui said in unison, running off to the door that separated the two rooms.

"I wonder why those two were in such a hurry…" Ash said. "Ah, well."

"Ashy! Where did you go off to?" He heard May's voice say.

"Coming, May!" Ash went back to the bed. "Time to get up!"

"Morning already?" May said half asleep.

"It was never night," Ash said.

"Really?"

"Really."

"I don't want to get up…"

"Then I'll have to make you."

"Ok… do I really have to get up?"

"Yes, May."

"Oh, all right, Ashy," May said as she got out of bed. "Any signs of Cipher returning here?"

"May, we just beat off Nascour. I don't think they'll be coming here for quite a while."

"Ok, then," May said. "Hungry?" Ash grinned.

"When am I not?" Ash replied.

_They're going out to dinner – now's my chance!_

As Ash and May left the room, Misty snuck in unnoticed.

"Now, time to get down to business!" Misty said. She put a small unnoticeable camera on the ceiling of the room. "Whatever they do, I can now see!" Misty said. She went back to her room and pushed a button on the television screen switching it to Video 2. "Hahahahaha!" Misty said. "Now, I can spy on their every move!"

"Good work!" Her shoulder devil said. They both started to laugh maniacally together.

- 2 hours later -

"Man, I'm full!" Ash said, coming back into the room with May.

"Me too - I don't think I could eat another bite!"

"I'll be right back up," Ash said. "I just want to go see if the others have settled into their room."

"Ok, Ashy! I'll be waiting for you!" May kissed Ash on the cheek and left the room.

"I'll be back soon!" Ash said leaving the room.

"Woo hoo!" May yelled jumping on to the bed. "I can't beleive Ash and I are getting married! It's like a dream come true!"

_Yeah, my dream._

- 15 minutes later -

"May?" Ash said, entering the room. "Where are you now?"

Ash searched the whole room, unable to find her. He opened the door between the two rooms, and saw Wes and Rui on the bed kissing.

"A little privacy here?" Wes said.

"Sorry. Have you seen May?" Ash asked.

"Not since earlier," Wes said.

"Ok, sorry," Ash said. He closed the door and Wes and Rui went back to kissing. 'Maybe she's in the bathroom...' Ash thought. He went up to the bathroom door.

"May? Are you in there?"

"Yeah," Ash heard May say. "Come in." Ash opened the door and entered the bathroom.

"I thought you said you were in here?" Ash said, looking around.

"I am, silly! Over here!" May said. Ash turned her head and saw May in the hot tub.

"Ummm... I think I'd better leave," Ash said.

"No, come in!" May said.

"I can't... my bandages. They'll come off," Ash said as a grim reminder of what had happned just yesterday.

"Don't worry," May said. "If they do, we can put new ones on."

"I guess," Ash said. "I could come in for a little while."

- 1 hour later -

"I guess it's time for bed," May said, leaving the bathroom with a towel wrapped around her.

"Yeah, I guess," Ash came out of the bathroom in a black bathrobe.

"I'm going to go get dressed," May said, going back in to the bathroom. "I'll be right back."

"Ok," Ash said. He laid down in the bed and waited for May to come out.

_I can't believe it... I have to get over there and make Ash hate May right now!_

But before Misty could do anything, May walked out of the bathroom in a nightgown. She laid down on the bed next to Ash.

"Night, Ashy!" She said before kissing him on the cheek and closing her eyes.

"Night," Ash said, putting his arm around her and going to sleep.

_All right! They're both asleep! Time for some sabtoge!_

Misty crept into Ash and May's room, unnoticed by either of them, and got to work.


End file.
